88: Chapter 88 Final Interpretation Rights

Inside the shop, Kara's feet left the ground, and she clawed uselessly at A-Zu's wrists, her nails scraping against his coarse fabric cuffs with a faint hissing sound.

Her antennae were trembling violently, the tips turning a ghastly grayish-white.

No one dared to speak up to plead for her; everyone looked at A-Zu in fear.

A-Zu released his grip, and Kara collapsed onto the floor, one hand bracing herself against the ground while the other clutched her throat, coughing violently.

Her antennae hung limply in front of her forehead, like two vines snapped by a torrential rain.

Once her gasping breaths gradually subsided, she quickly rolled over to kneel properly, pressing her forehead heavily against the ground.

"Your Highness, please forgive me for acting on my own."

Her prostrate posture was meticulous, her spine parallel to the ground and her antennae pressed flat against the floor tiles, clearly demonstrating the strict hierarchy of the Planet Wuhu people.

A-Zu lowered his eyes to look at the prostrate woman beneath his feet, the red glow in his eyes slowly fading.

He paced away with his hands behind his back and said coldly, "Why did you sell the potions so cheaply? Do you have any idea that we only brought a total of one thousand bottles?"

Kara remained kneeling on the ground, her forehead not leaving the floor.

Her voice came muffled from the floor tiles, "I am well aware, Your Highness."

Her antennae lifted slightly by half an inch, "But my thought is, since these Blue Star people have never seen the real potions anyway, couldn't we just sell them fakes?"

A-Zu's footsteps stopped, and the red glow in his eyes slowly faded.

"Fakes? Won't they have complaints about that?"

Kara slowly raised her head. There was a faint red mark on her forehead from the impact, but a strange smile appeared at the corners of her mouth, "Your Highness, regarding Espers, we hold the final right of interpretation."

"If they drink it and it has no effect, that's just their bad luck—for instance, their own genes are too weak, species differences, or the timing for awakening hasn't arrived yet. There are simply too many reasons."

"When the time comes, we can occasionally release a few real ones to create a lucky soul or two, and that will achieve the desired effect."

"They will naturally believe it to be true, and in the end, they will likely come up with their own excuses as to why they didn't awaken."

Her tone was extremely certain. Throughout the day, she had clearly felt the desire of these Blue Star people to become stronger, and she was convinced that as long as there was even a glimmer of opportunity, these Blue Star people would flock to it.

A-Zu stood under the chandelier, his antennae swaying slightly in the light. He looked up at the newly installed full-length mirror on the wall, which reflected his new clothes.

"Hahahaha!" He suddenly began to laugh wildly.

Then he bent down, grabbed Kara's arms with both hands, and helped her up.

"Very good, Kara." A-Zu patted Kara on the shoulder, "I've discovered that this Blue Star civilization has more good things than I imagined. Tell me, wouldn't it be wonderful if this civilization could serve us?"

Kara trembled all over and quickly advised, "Your Highness, this is the territory of Commander Chen Mu of the Guga Civilization. We haven't figured out his attitude yet, so we should proceed with caution!"

"Hahaha, that's true. Don't worry, I know my limits."

A-Zu continued to look at his new clothes in the mirror, "Kara, I'm leaving this matter entirely to you. You all should earn one hundred million as soon as possible; I have a major use for it."

Kara and Karl both knelt on one knee at the same time, pressed their right hands to their left chests, and lowered their heads, saying, "Yes! Your Highness."

——————

On the other side, the President leaned back in his chair in the Oval Office, staring at the documents on the desk.

The one on top was a threat assessment report sent by the Secretary of Defense two hours ago, with a red "Top Secret" stamp on the cover.

Sitting around the table were the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense, Advisor Cole, the CIA Director, and some think tank experts; everyone was watching the President.

The President suddenly pushed his chair forward, "Who can explain this to me? A bunch of snail-people who flew in from outer space wearing straw sandals can actually speak English, and they speak it more clearly than some of the congressmen back in my hometown!"

He tapped his knuckles on the tabletop, "Does anyone have an answer for me on this?"

Advisor Cole pushed up his glasses, "Mr. President, we conducted an analysis overnight. The most reasonable inference at the moment is that the Guga Planet people pre-programmed their language in advance for this interstellar trade."

The President's brows furrowed, "Programmed?"

"Yes." Advisor Cole opened the bound report in front of him, "After all, this trade is being led by Ball Chief Chen Mu, so they would naturally help us eliminate communication barriers. Otherwise, two civilizations that cannot even manage basic communication would naturally have no trade."

The Secretary of State chimed in, "Although we have only seen the weapons of the Guga Civilization so far, I believe that a civilization capable of shutting down a star must have technology in daily life that far exceeds our imagination. Using it to program a language into someone might be simpler than teaching an infant to say 'mama'."

"Fine, let's set that issue aside for now." The President looked at the Secretary of Defense, "Second question: can we beat those Planet Wuhu people or not? Don't give me a PowerPoint presentation; just tell me straight."

The Secretary of Defense stood up, walked to the front of the conference room, and pressed a remote control. A thermal imaging satellite sequence map lit up on the wall screen.

"This is footage we captured from the KH-15 Keyhole satellite at 9:37 AM this morning."

He pressed the play button. On the screen, a blinding white dot suddenly rose from the Kennedy Airport runway, cut into the stratosphere in an almost straight trajectory, and then drew a perfect arc over New York before landing on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan.

"A-Zu, self-proclaimed A-rank Esper, leader of the Planet Wuhu delegation." The Secretary of Defense paused the footage, "Speed is approximately Mach 1.5, flying in a straight line, no obvious aerodynamic shape, no propulsion exhaust, no deceleration maneuvers."

"This means he is not flying using aerodynamics, but rather controlling gravity directly through some field effect we cannot understand, or more accurately, he is making gravity move around him rather than passing through the air himself."

"Currently, no known human aircraft can silently accelerate to this speed, and no missile can intercept an intelligent target that does not need to follow a ballistic trajectory."

He pressed to show the second image, a comparison chart: the flight trajectory of a Tomahawk cruise missile and A-Zu's flight trajectory from today placed side-by-side. The Tomahawk's trajectory was a winding red line, while A-Zu's trajectory was a straight white beam.

"Mach 1.5 is equivalent to half the top speed of the SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance aircraft. But the Blackbird requires a ten-thousand-meter runway, mid-air refueling, and a rear base, while he requires nothing at all."

"He is, by himself, a stealth high-speed bomber that cannot be detected by radar, cannot be tracked by heat-seeking sensors, and can fly from New York to Washington in thirty seconds. Conventional air defense systems are highly likely to be ineffective against him."

"So what is the conclusion?" The President's gaze became sharp, "I want a conclusion, not a technical manual."